Heartland Cooks 3/24 – Brenda's Corn Pone Pie

We find this week's Heartland Cook in a kitchen in Murphysboro, Illinois. Brenda White's husband Dennis contacted us about his wife's tremendous recipe. Dennis says he submitted the recipe for Brenda's Corn Pone Pie because he loves the dish (and Brenda too, of course) so much. The recipe was her mother's originally, but over the years Dennis says Brenda has modified it to perfection. The recipe basically takes all your favorite things about a bowl of chili and wraps it up in a delicious cornbread casserole.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped green pepper

1 Tablespoon chili powder

¾ teaspoon salt

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup drained & rinsed red beans

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground chuck along with onion and peppers in the same pan over medium heat. Add chili powder, salt, diced tomatoes, and red beans to pan. Simmer 15 minutes.

Pour meat mixture into a greased 9 x 13 (or smaller!) casserole dish.

Follow directions on Jiffy corn muffin packaging to make cornbread batter. Pour corn bread batter on top and spread evenly over meat.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until cornbread is golden brown.

Carly's tip: The next time I make this recipe I'll definitely use a smaller casserole dish; or I'll use one and a half boxes of jiffy corn muffin mix. The cornbread batter runs out really quickly with just one box and it's difficult to spread over the entire span of a 9 x 13 pan.

If you have a recipe you'd like to show off, we want to hear from you. Send Carly or Jaime an e-mail. You share the recipe and we'll do the cooking!